Method and apparatus for shipping engines



June 17, 1930.

G. L. LUNDBORG Er AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHIPPING ENGINES OriginalFiled April 11, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY.

June 17, 1930. LUNDBORG ET AL 1,764,737

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHIPPING ENGINES Original Filed April 11, 19274 Sheets-Sheet 2 /O C v INVENTOR$ I asfimr l lzu ndbo r :E/Ehard ,LZ5BTaeZ ATTORNEY.

June 17, 1930. LUNDBORG ET1AL 1,764,737

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHIPPING ENGINES Original Filed April 11, 19274 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORE @215720 llfI/MQZ IZ FL'CZG'IZZ E. Israe mam--A TTORNEY.

June 17, 1930. a. L. LUNDBORG E AL I METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHIPPIN'ENGINES Original Filed April 11, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet INVENTORS G'aslfa1/ L. Luna 60 r9 BY Reba/0'5 Asrael A TTORNE Y.

- lumber cost as well as in labor in construcping engines in .freightcars and other con- Patented June 17, 1930 UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICEGUSTAV L. LUNDIBORG'AN D RICHARD B. ISRAEL, OF MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN,ASSIGNOBS TO CONTINENTAL MOTORS CORPORATION, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ACORPORATION OF VIRGINIA METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHIPPING ENGINESOriginal. application filed April 11, 1927,- Serial No. 182,557. Dividedand this application filed September 20, 1928. Serial No. 807,104.

This invention relates to loading and unloading methods and apparatusand refers more particularly to an improved method and apparatus forshippingengines such as internal combustion engines. I

Heretofore it has been customary in shipveyances to construct individualcrates ordinarily made of wood, for each engme. Thls practice lnvolvesconsiderable expense 1n ing the crates,'placing the engines in thecrates and generally handling the crates both at the shipping end and atthe receiving end or destination. Aside from the cost of the lumber manyof the crates are broken and otherwise damaged by general depreciation.A further expense and diificulty under the practice heretofore residesin checking up the'crates shipped. Frequently the crates are notreturned to the shipper and a check up must be made to determine such asituation. The crates frequently are damaged in removing the engines andthe period of usefulness of a crate is relatively short, i. e.

only a relatively few number of shipments,

the consignee often being charged for lost and damaged crates. Henceunder the past practice of. shipping engines considerable expense isincurred ,both to the consignor and consignee.

Our invention provides a novel method and apparatus for eliminating theindividual crates for the engines and generally materially reduces thelabor and material costs involved both to the consignor and consignee. I4 I A further feature of our invention resides in providing novel meansfor securely locating the engines in place in a freight car or otherconveyance whereby the engines may be closely nested and securely fixedagainst accidental displacement during shipment, and yet may be quicklyand conveniently removed from the freight carat the destina-;

tion. One advantage resulting from this feature of our invention residesin the ability to so closely nest the engines that the establishedminimum load per car may be obtained without decking the motors.Heretofore, in order to receive the full benefit of the shipping costper car it was often necessary to deck the crated engines since thecrates took up a relatively great amount of the available floor space ofthe freight car.

W'ith the above and other. objects in view our invention further resides1n the novel combination and arrangement of parts more particularlyhereinafter described.

This application is a division of our copending application Ser. No.182,557, filed April 11, 1927.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the interior of a freight carillustrating one manner of shipping engines according to our invention,

Fig. 2

Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1

is a like view at right angles to illustrating a modifiedform of ourinven tion,' and Fig. 4 is a view of the modification corresponding withFig. 2;

In the drawings reference character A represents a typical freight car,such as ordinarily used for shipping engines and otherarticles, 10representing the floor, 11

the end walls, 12 the side walls, and 13- the doors and door openings.

In carrying out our invention We anay q son of the spaced supportingrails By 1 reason of our travelling hoist apparatus C the engines B maybe readily and quickly loaded into the freight car, or unloadedtherefrom. The particular operation or con struction of such loadingapparatus forms ferring to Figs. 1 and 2 the engines are placed inposition as by our loading apparatus, upon spaced supports 33,preferably of wood extending transversely across the floor of the car,the ends of the supports 33 being properly spaced according to thelongitudinal dimension of the engine by the spacers 34 secured as bynails to the supports 33. In order to prevent displacement of thesupporting units formed by the members 33 and 34, unit spacers 35 may beprovided. To further securely fix the engines in position end boards 36may be placed at the ends of each transverse row of engines across thesupports 33 and adjacent the end engines of each row. As shown in Fig. 1engine spacing blocks 37 may be located between adjacent engines of eachrow, these blocks for convenience being located below upper positioningboards 38 overlying each row of engines. We next tie the engines of eachrow together by passing a. tie member, wire, or metal strip 39preferably entirely around the engines of each row, fixing the ends ofthe tie member in any convenient manner. Next, other ties 40 are passedpreferably at several points along the length of each row of enginestaking up any slack in the tie member 39 and serving to further securethe engines in position. It is generally desirable to pass the ties 40beneath the sup-v ports 33 and above the boards 38, these ties forconvenience being placed on the floor of the car before placing thesupports 33. In this manner the engine supports 33 may 'be quicklyplaced in position, the engines then being positioned by the loadingapparatus, followed by placement of the boards and the ties. If desiredthe boards 33 may have their upper faces grooved to receive the engines,the grooves corresponding in general with the lower shape of the engine.

Instead of positioning the unit rows of engines transversely of the car,these rows might also be .formed longitudinall of the car as shown inFigs. 3 and 4. 11 these views the supports 33 and 11 per boards 38'extend longitudinally of t e car, ties 39 and 40' being employedsubstantially as described above with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. InFig. 3 we have shown the ties 39 extending longitudinally of the car,passing around the engines of each row respectively.

In unloading the cars the ties and upper boards are removed, theapparatus shown in Fig. 1 being employed to remove the engines from thecars. If desired the loading and unloading apparatus may be left in thecar during shipment or may be built permanently in the car.

Our invention provides means for securely fixing the engines in positionwithout the use of individual crates-used heretofore. Furthermore asaving is made possible in the elimination of much of the lumber usedheretofore in crates as well as crate losses and deterioration expenses.With our invention the engines may be closely nested, making it possibleto obtain the minimum required load in a freight car without thenecessity of decking the engine.

We do not limit ourselves to the particular apparatus and arrangement ofengine location as shown and described as it is apparent that manychanges may be resorted to and still utilize the benefits of ourinvention. We believe our invention to be of a very broad scope since weare aware of no method or apparatus makingh it possible heretofore toship motors wit out the use of the individual crates.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. Means for grouping internal combustion engines for shipment infreight cars comprising a frame support mounted within the car forreceiving a plurality of engines, a member overlying the en ines, and

flexible material wound about the rame and said member for preventingrelative movement of the engines during shipment.

2. Means for groupinginternal combustion engines for shipment in freightcars comprising a frame support mounted within the car for receiving aplurality of engines, a member overlying the en ines, and flexiblematerial wound about the rame and said member, and also about theengines for preventing relative movement of the engines during shipment.

3. Means for grouping internal combustion engines for shipment infreight cars comprisinga frame support within the car, said supportformed ofmembers extending substantially longitudinally and transverselyrespectively of'the'car, said engines being mounted on said frame, meansoverlying the engines, and flexible tie means connecting the framesupport and overlying means serving to prevent relative displacement ofthe engines during shipment.

4. Means for groupmginternal combustion engines forshipment in freightcars comprising a frame support within the car,

said support formed of members extending substantially longitudinallyand transversely respectively of the car, said engines being mounted onsaid frame, with their longest dimensions extending longitudinally ofthe car, means overlying the engines in a direction transverse to thelongest dimension aforesaid, and flexible tie means connecting the framesupport and overlying means serving-to prevent relative displacement ofthe engines during shipment.

5. The method of grouping and relatively securing internal combustionengines for shipment in freight cars consisting in providing a pluralityof enginegroup supports extending transversely of the car, mounting saidengines on said supports respectivelywith the longest dimension of theengines transverse to the suipports and in the longitudinal direction 0the car, and tying the engines to said respective supports to preventtheir displacement in transit.

6. Themethod of grouping and relatively securing internal combustionengines for shipment in freight cars consisting in providing a pluralityof engine group supports extending transversely of the car, mountingsaid englnes on said supports respectively tudinal direction 0 with thelongest dimension of the engines transverse to the su ports and in thelon if the car, and tying t e engines to each other relatively in groupsand to the said respective supports to prevent displacement of theengines in transit.

viding a plurality of engine 1nountin said engines on sai supports with.

securing internal combustion engines for shiipment in freight carsconsisting in pro vi ng a plurality of engine group supports, mountingsaid engineson said supports, and tying the engines to said supports ingroups to prevent relative displacement ofthe engines of any group.

- 9. The method of grouping and relatively securing internal combustionengines for shipment in freight cars consisting in prooup supports,

- the long stdimension of the engines transverse to said supports, andtying the engines to each other relatively in groups and to said suports to prevent relative displacement of t e engines of any group. I

10. The method of grouping and relatively-securin internal combustionengines forshipment in freight cars consisting'in providing a pluralityof engine group supports,

mounting said engines on said sup orts with the longest dimension of theengines transverse to said supports, overlying the engines of each groupwith a stiffening member extending parallel with the sup rts, and

tying the supports, engines, an 7 stifiening 'members asunits againstrelative displacement in transit.

- In testimony whereof, we hereunto aflix our signatures, this 8th dayof Sept, A. D.

GUSTAV L. LUNDBORG. RICHARD B. ISRAEL.

